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Before I pull out the credit card and just start buying a bunch of stuff from Man of War Studios, FettPride, or BobaMaker, I thought I'd ask for some advice from everyone on my ESB era build. I'm gonna start with the soft parts of the suit first. Here are my options as I see them...

1. Evolution Props sells a complete soft parts set for about $450. This includes the boots, braids, both belts, neck & head seals, and gloves. Looks like it's a tailored fit, seeing as you need to include a bunch of different measurements.

2. Start with a couple Dickies short sleeve speedsuits. Grab mum's sewing machine and go from there. Sew my own spats, cargo & leg pouches, neck seal, flak vest, and put some longer sleeves on the existing suit. There are a couple really nice tutorials on this site for doing some of this.

3. Same as 2, but maybe ring up LadySewsForUs for the flightsuit.

It might be in bad taste to ask, but are there any places to maybe avoid for parts? I'm thinking about Bobamaker for gauntlets and jetpack, Asok for the helmet (are they fibreglass?), and swprops or StarForce for the codpiece/buttplate and maybe the back plate. I want to make the rest of the armor myself with some Sintra. Thanks in advance, everyone, and wish me luck!

Welcome Necronaut! I'm relatively new here(less than a year), my opinion is definitely not option 1. very inaccurate and overpriced. Number 2 is an option but unless you're talented with a sewing machine you're not going to be totally happy with it... Option 3 is a great idea! I hear she is fantastic, the downside is there might be a bit of a wait....
I'm sure the other much more experienced members will point you in the right direction. Good luck buddy!

All right! Arkady sent me a PM for her services, and I'm gonna go with that. Lots of you can't seem to say enough good things about her craftsmanship and services! In the meantime, I think I'll start looking locally for a pair of boots to convert and a suitable girth belt to dye/paint. This place is cool!

I know that i was thinking of crafting my own armor, but RKD has some sick armor for a very reasonable price... I really feel the need to hand-craft some of my costume myself. The gloves are probably going to be purchased, but I'm gonna forge ahead with making my own boots. Maybe even my own ammo belt and pouches too.

I've been thinking over the last few days about how to mask and paint a helmet. The amount of hand masking that you guys do amazes me! However, I found some .pdf helmet color templates here that have the colors layered for printing. Has anyone done vinyl paint masks cut from a CriCut? The ladyfriend has one, and it wouldn't be much of a hassle to convert and upload the helmet color layer files to it.

My suit is Arkady, nothing but good things to say about her. I made my first boots, easy build. Don't worry about NOT making anything yourself...perfecting the painting of parts that are fabricated for you will frustrate you to no avail, and by the time you get them to the point you are satisfied you will MORE than feel a bunch of "ownership" in the suit. You found the right place. Ask lots of questions, take your time. Enjoy yourself!

I've been thinking over the last few days about how to mask and paint a helmet. The amount of hand masking that you guys do amazes me! However, I found some .pdf helmet color templates here that have the colors layered for printing. Has anyone done vinyl paint masks cut from a CriCut? The ladyfriend has one, and it wouldn't be much of a hassle to convert and upload the helmet color layer files to it.

I already did something similar... I did the stencils to fit my scratch build helmet templates (which is close to screen accurate in some degree). My approach was to print out the stencils and glue it directly to the equivalent of helmet part. See more here ==> Making the first Rafal Works Helmet.

Before you jump the Gun, how accurate are you going for....I honestly wouldnt waste time with sintra armor unless your very good with molding and crafting things. It will look like flat pieces of plastic, which is not exactly how the armor should look.

For soft parts there are a few GOOD options and a number of bad options. From what Ive seen of the MOW soft parts they are nice and take dye. However they arent 1 piece flihght suits. But that area is covered up by various pieces of the costume. So thats not terrible. Arklady, crazy4bobafett, ladysewforus, Lonestar (not sure if hes around anymore) all make excellent stuff...and theyre 1 piece. The Evo stuff (even if people say theyre satisfied with it) is NOT even close to being accurate in terms of anything. Flightsuit and such arent the right shapes, The boots are sweded not the right shape fall apart from the sole...and the gloves are shoddy...etc. You get what u pay for in terms of most things with Fett and Star Wars costumes go. There are some lower end budget friendly options for CERTAIN parts Cucblacks flight suit is not bad...color is off but fitment is good material takes dye...so it can be adjusted...his vest not so much...Honestly Bat Ninja makes the best vest and neck seal...hands down you have to wait for him to do a run but it is WORTH it. Boots boots boots...MOW does runs of boots yearly? I have a set I modded to be more accurate and am semi happy with them...they are not terrible, not completely accurate but there is a member working on getting boots out again that have the square toe...There are a few mark cheng boots out there pretty much the bees knees of boots right now...If I had the chance and cash to pick up a pair when someone sells them in my size Id jump on em. Friend of mine has em and I must say best out there right now. Gloves are tough saintnasty was making them maybe still is but not sure on that one. Pouches I would say go with the maker of your flight suit so the material matches...Im looking forward to seeing more from clothears...who made a REALLY accurate looking flightsuit over in the UK...might be an option not sure as of right this minute how they are coming alomg with that prototype.

Using Dickies isnt going to work, they dont take dye they dont fade and its just not a good idea really. You could make your own suit with material and time...

Buying stuff from ebay is not your best bet...once again you get what you pay for...I really suggest looking around at other peoples builds and seeing whats what...I think SWprops you speak of is cucblack here...not positive but I was looking at his stuff the other day while seeing what MOW had on ebay (forgot he is on ebay as well his stuff is not trash only exception to the ebay rule) Stuff on ebay tends to be rip offs of members here...recasts and just sub par stuff. Try the cargo hold...and be patient. This isnt something to dive head first into with deep pockets...itll only make you mad spending that hard earned money on stuff you wish you didnt buy.

Honestly, I've been lurking here for the better part of a month before signing up for a membership. Just picking up what this project will entail, in terms of money, time, and effort. I briefly considered the Rubies Supreme costume in time for Hallowe'en before seeing a review of it posted here. Needless to say, that isn't an option anymore. I have already put an order in for Arkady's flightsuit, vest, neckseal, and pouches already. Should be here within a month!
I think I'm already sold on RKD's v.2 armor (it's a little big, like me!), Asok's helmet, and BobaMaker's jetpack and gauntlets. As for the rest, we'll see what happens. As to how screen-accurate? I'm not looking to get into the 501st, but it should look like there was some effort and though behind it. I'm planning on a 1 1/2 to 2 year build, dedicating a little out of every paycheck to this project. I'm thinking a Barney Stinson-style living room display piece that I can still wear for Cons & Hallowe'en.
I really appreciate everyone's feedback and two cents on this project (Rafal, Fett 4 Real, Hobbit, Arkady, etc).
Time to ask about turnaround time for some of the bigger parts of this project. If any of you are still around, how long will it take to build and ship RKD armor, an Asok helmet, or some BobaMaker jetpack/gauntlet parts?

I think the BM JP is a bit pricey....I think the BFUK pack would be a better option if you wanted a fiberglass jetpack...not sure when fettpride will be selling his new jetpack...it may also be an option for you in your time frame. The Gaunts, I cant say Ive seen BM's gaunts in person (esb version that is) so i cant say how good they are or anything really. MOW RKD and FP all make nice gaunts.

I have been building and rebuild a Fett on and off since the early 90'. I have done lots of research. I think a lot of the Evolution stuff is very inaccurate. I think Fett Pride's stuff is the most accurate there is.

Since we last left, I have collected the flightsuit, a new neckseal from Batninja (I actually mis-measured my neck for Arkady's neckseal, but it's off to a brand-new home now), flak vest, side pouches, wookie braids, and a cape. Today, I actually got up the nerve to try some fabric dye-based weathering. I wanted to use fabric dyes, since they would penetrate the cloth and give that look that the grime and dirt is actually in the fabric, not just on top of it. Quite a learning experience...

I gave the flak vest a light gray tinting overall, to be augmented later with some spot-based weathering. I used a package of dry RIT pearl gray dye for the cotton twill fabric of the vest, and it came out ok. I had it in the dye bath for maybe 5 minutes, rinsed it a bunch of times, and allowed it to drip-dry. We'll see the final results tomorrow.

One of the major weathering spots on the flightsuit is the lower legs. They are VERY grimy, compared to the rest of the suit. I decided to do a gradient dye along the lower legs, just to create a base for further weathering and grime. It would go from the normal flightsuit blue around the thigh pockets to a grayish-blue at the lower leg cuffs. RIT has a tutorial on their site about how to do this type of dyeing. I wetted the legs of the flightsuit, mixed up my black dye (should have gone with a medium gray...) in a sink of warm water (60 degrees Celsius) and lowered the legs in slowly. The idea is that the dye will penetrate the parts immersed in water longer much more than the parts more recently immersed. I think I didn't have enough water in the dye bath, because after only a minute of soaking, the lower legs were BLACK. And I mean "brand new pair of skater skinny jeans" black! That's one Arkady flightsuit ruined!

This is what I should have done instead. I still had to weather-dye the hip pouches and my cape. I wetted them down, wrung out the excess water, and laid them flat on the counter. Using the same dye bath that had just ruined my flightsuit, I used a cotton rag soaked in the dye bath and blotted the dye onto the pouches and cape, back and front. To ensure full pepetration of the dye into the seams and corners of the fabric, I balled up the pouch flap ends into the rag and gave it a good squeeze. As I relaxed my grip, the black dye water was absorbed pretty evenly into the fabric. And now, the pouch covers (which are supposed to be weathered much darker than the fabric around it) have that darker, blotchy, grimy, set-in look! Success!

So, how do I salvage a dye-ruined flightsuit? My thoughts are to use RIT's color remover on the whole flightsuit, and re-dye the blue back into it. I don't imagine that it will completely remove the black, but whatever color remains ought to serve as my weathering base I originally intended. I think RIT makes a color dye that some of you have used on MOW's white-gray flightsuits to get the blue look needed for Boba's blue ESB flightsuit.

So here's the damage after a wash...
Pic with flash on.
Pic with no flash.
And here's some supplies I picked up today. After having a good look at the color after a wash, it's not nearly as black as it looked after the rinse from the dye bath. Need some advice: Should I go with a re-dye of the whole suit, try a little color remover on the affected areas, or try and work with what's on there using some watered down acrylic paints to tone it down?

Well, I tried a batch of color remover, just to see what would happen to the flightsuit. A dab of it on the inside of the ankle ties turned the black to a purple-maroon color. I could live with that. Another test spot on the chest of the flightsuit (covered up with the flak vest) revealed that it would also eat away the color of the flightsuit overall. I chickened out. So I am back to pre-weathering with color dyes. I wetted down my flightsuit, pouches, and cape. I then mixed up a batch of dark brown color dye in a squirt bottle. Bad idea. Even though I had the squirt bottle set to 'mist', I still got the odd 'drop' of brown on the flightsuit and pouches. On the cape it's not so bad (with it already being a brown/tan color). Even worse, i got tiny little flecks of red on a few spots on the flightsuit. I am officially done with dye-based weathering. Time to break out the acrylic paint and spraybombs!

I am now the proud owner of a pink flightsuit, pouches, and ESB cape. I really should have gone with acrylic paint for weathering....

That sucks...that really sucks. Can you save it by re-dying blue, or is everything ruined? I would recommend spray paint and real dirt/grime for weathering. Sometimes less is more with this kind of stuff. Don't get discouraged.

I'm gonna try color remover on the entire suit and the pouches, and a re-dye back to blue. But I think the cape is a total loss. What's the Rit dye color for an ESB flightsuit? I think I saw somewhere that it's Evening blue?

I was crying the blues about my flightsuit after my last post, but some color remover took out all the dye I added, but somehow preserved the original flightsuit color (it's a little more faded now, which looks really good actually).
The armor's RKD's IOA Armor. I painted it myself with RafalFett's invaluable templates. I haven't weathered it yet, and I'm waiting on some decals from Luckys13 before I clearcoat and weather.
The bucket is supposedly a used asok/FP Budget helm, but I'm a little suspicious... it came with the visor cut out and now has a big crack along the left cheek. Regardless, it looks a little big and I'm in line for one of the new CC GMH's from Asok anyways.
My gauntlets are still sort of a WIP. I sprayed some Krylon titanium metalllic paint on the right one in January, and it's just cured. I have a bunch of metal parts for them from DarkSide, as well as his knee darts. I even have a cast steel dental expander replica from someone on Etsy!

After checking the bank account, I went on a spending spree: CC GMH from Asok, Fett Seven jetpack, Kpc7cr jetpack harness, woodman girth belt, and sidewinder EE-3. I might start a thread about how I plan on weathering my armor with oil paints.

Looking good man! I can totally relate to your dyeing fiascoas I just ruined a suit I got from Kpc7cr using the wrong blue, trying to bleach it and ended up giving it a purple hue no matter how many other blues I tried... oh well, live and learn. I just decide to dye it completely black and upgrade my custom mando flight suit. I absolutely love my Arkady Jango suit so I went back to her for my ESB Boba. Looking at your confirms that it was a good choice. I am alsogoing with RKD plates and a lot of MOW parts. I look forward to more updates!

Gauntlets: MoW Studios. Extras include a metal gauntlet rocket by DarkSide, a flamethrower custom built by me with found parts and MoW's kit parts, a cast metal dental expander from a maker on Etsy, and gauntlet darts by MojoFett. Painted by me.

Jetpack: fiberglass by Fett Seven. Includes a metal beacon by eco, metal stabilizer by MojoFett, metal rocket collar and rocket greeblies by DarkSide. Painted by me. Jetpack harness by Kcrp7r.